Coding with Scratch!

We have a software engineer in our family.  Unsurprisingly, Paul likes to code.   He started with Scratch—which is free!  My knowledge of coding or programming is nil.  I found the books shown below to be helpful.  Our local library has several elementary programming books available.  We started with the ‘Code Your Own Games’ book.  Paul and I found the kitty in Scratch to be easy to understand once we used the step by step guide in the book.  Paul and I never learned how to incorporate images from the public domain into Scratch.  But, we did encoding the programs needed to make a simple game.

Family Science: Binary Code Knitting and Valentine Twizzler Necklaces!

 Is this idea random, or what?  I’m working with a small, Montessori school.  Montessori education is frequently student-led.  Right now, the elementary students at the school are interested in knitting, crocheting, and weaving.  You can connect STEM + Knitting.  Marly Bird has a pattern for a Binary Code Knit Super Scarf.  (If you sign up for emails, you can download the detailed patterns.  It has ASCII for letters, numbers, and symbols.  The instructions are quite clear.). My thought was that kids could also weave their names in binary.  Basically, just use two colors for the ones and zeros.  Marly Bird recommends using a third color for spacing between the letters.  I’m knitting  a binary scarf, now.

Paul and my husband, Rob, made Valentine Twizzler Binary Codes.  They made coded messages instead of a necklace.  The two of them have a strict ‘no crafts’ policy.  Secret codes are fun!  Your kids might like to learn Morse code, too.  Here is an article from Popular Science with a little history of spies Knitting secret codes.  Fun, right?  I think the Twizzler Binary Code activity or weaving beads in binary code might unleash some enthusiasm to research a little history about spies and codes.  Here are some books about spies and coding.

March Madness!

 Why so many posts?  My husband and I volunteer to do taxes.  We also substitute for Religious Ed, teach Co-op, and tutor friends and neighbors.  My blog posts are going to be more erratic.  Let me get them in when I feel inspired.

Flinn Science published March Madness or Sweet 16 activities.  Each one uses sports brackets for different themes.  Here is Sweet 16 Drosophilia (fruit fly genetics with a reference link), Sweet 16 Cell, March Madness It’s Elementary, Sweet 16 Chemical Formulas Tournament, Sweet 16 Mineral Identification Tournament, and Sweet 16 Amino Acid Tournament.  Yes, there are even more online.  Full disclosure: I didn’t do these for a loooonnng time because I didn’t understand brackets.  I finally asked my colleague, Dave, a football coach, to explain brackets.  It turns out another colleague, Amy, didn’t understand them either, for which I was grateful, because I felt stupid.  Now that I understand what a bracket is, these activities are much easier to both do and explain.

Family Science—Just for Fun!

 My Co-op kids are challenging me personally with issues relating to Bioethics.  While wonderful, I want to shut off my brain.  Hey!  I found this post from Good Housekeeping.  Look at ‘Floating Fish’ and ‘Milk Bottle Xylophones’ (or glass soda bottles).  The post has 45 experiments.  Some are familiar, such as food coloring and milk.  All are easy to perform.  One more idea is hydro-dipping.  What a mess!  The kids had a blast.

Family Science: More Fun Food Experiments

 February sometimes feels bleak.  Let’s plan some fun, family experiments.  First is Science Bob’s A Density Experiment You Can Drink! with pomegranate, orange, and white grape juices.  I can’t imagine how it tastes.  Here is an edible aquifer, which I have done.  This experiment was extremely well received.  Dancing Raisins and Fibonacci Lemonade are fun, too!  Have you seen this post about Edible Engineering with snacks?  Finally, here is a terrific post about rice cereal treats and STEM.  You can use the treats for Edible Earth, too.  Let’s beat the doldrums with some edible Science?

Bioethics

I have one more presentation upcoming.  This student examines cloning in terms of the way clones are presented in popular media: films, comic strips, and novels.  Whew! He used Cavin and Hobbes, Ender’s Game’s ‘buggers’, Star Wars’ Cone Wars, and Ultron’s cloned robots, vastly different imagined clones.  Yes, this student examines every topic carefully—often with novel methods!  

Update: Just below are excerpts from another presentation.  This student has two brothers with Down’s Syndrome.  She wanted to focus her presentation on the dignity of each person.  Take a look.

 The kids began presenting their Bioethics projects.  The first two have restricted access.  I took a few screen shots to share with you below, to gauge the caliber of the submissions.  The kids are passionate on the topic.  We had an outstanding discussion.  As Roman Catholics, the Church calls for the respect for life from ‘conception to natural death’.  These teens embrace the Catholic faith fervently.  My son is a Catholic priest.  He and a friend, Mary, are experts on Bioethics.  They are planning a presentation for the kids.  I’ll record and post it in a couple weeks. 

Black History Month: Scientists

 I taught in both private and public schools before I taught at Co-op classes.  Public schools are more apt to celebrate MLK day or Black History Month in February.  For my money, it’s never a bad idea to celebrate success and encourage all of my students.  Science Buddies has a list of 38 Scientists.  Here is NSTA’s list.  Lastly, is ACS Honors African Americans in the Chemical Scientists.  When I taught in Prince William County, I learned about the success HBCUs have preparing young men and women to be doctors, scientists, and engineers.  Additionally, HBCUs ´Lead Nation in Black Baccalaureates Who Later Earn Doctoral Degrees’.  Let’s celebrate and inspire all of our students!

MEL Kits at Good Will

Update: The MEL kits supply enough chemical reagents to repeat each experiment at least twice.  Usually, even used kits have enough supplies to complete the lab successfully.  However, buy new kits whenever possible.  My target price is $10 with shipping for each kit.  I like to buy lots of three or more MEL kits.

 Good Will online has MEL science kits for an excellent price.  I use these kits to supplement my Chemistry class.  I have over thirty standard labs, such as flame tests, or precipitate labs.  The MEL kits tend to have interesting labs, such as tin dendrites or Alchemy.  These types of labs are expensive.  Even the used kits have two or three sets of materials for labs.  Last year, I described our experience here.  The kids in my husband’s Physics class last year performed several MEL labs, too.  That group took Chemistry remotely during the COVID quarantine.  While they did over thirty labs at home, I couldn’t assign some of the fun labs we do with supervision.  It was a chance for these kids to experience some of the fun in Chemistry.  Buy the kits used.  If you can obtain a kit for $10, you have a bargain.  If you do not have lab supplies, buy a starter kit. It has some glassware, stopper, and the burner.  Good Will online frequently has starter kits.  Target one for about $25.  However, $30 is still a fair price for a complete starter kit.  

Blood Tests

Sorry for the big gap in posts.  My husband, son and I went to Italy—where I got sick.  We had an interesting experience.  My son called the Embassy and found a doctor who came to the apartment we rented.  We returned home and spent another two weeks ill.  

When I teach Genetics, I do blood tests.  I bought Eldoncards to test ABO and rH blood types.  We’ll use simulated blood tests first before we use the Eldoncards, which are pricey. The kids need to understand the idea of anti-sera and blood testing.   Here is a simulated blood test lab which uses milk, food coloring, vinegar, and water.  If you teach Chemistry, Investigating Blood Types has simulated ABO blood types using hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, barium nitrate, and silver nitrate.  The lab calls for 2M solutions of the acids.  However, 1M solutions should work.  I keep both silver nitrate and barium nitrate on hand for precipitation reactions when I teach Chemistry.  The lab calls for  0.1 M solutions of the two nitrates.  Both nitrates are pricey.  Use small amounts for this lab.  If you want to buy a kit for a larger Co-op group, I like Innovating Science’s Genetics of Blood Types, sold at Home Science Tools.  The instructions are clear and the price for a kit is reasonable.  I love teaching the genetics of blood tests!

Science on a Budget: Lab Equipment

Yes, I am still on a mission to find low-cost lab equipment.  I want more families to do experiments in their science classes!  I started using Temu for yarn and felt bins.  So far so good. (I do use PayPal as insurance; when I’ve had a problem with an order, such as on eBay, PayPal intervened.).  The prices for basic lab materials are astounding.  I did some comparison shopping with Amazon.  The screenshots are below for basic labware.

Biology on a Budget: Create a Baby Lab

 I love the Create A Baby Lab.  You need coins, pencils, and sketch paper.  The kids flip coins to determine a baby’s traits.  They draw the results.  Each baby created is a unique mosaic of traits inherited from mom and dad.  The activity drives home basic concepts: allele, genotype, phenotype, dominant, recessive, etc. Trust me, this is fun!